A Place In My Heart
by Dr. Cameron
Summary: When Sara left in Goodbye and Good Luck she only said goodbye to Grissom. But she can't leave without saying goodbye to her best friend for the last seven years, Nick Stokes, can she? Slightly Snickerish, as, well, that's who I am. Oneshot.


As a Snickers shipper I must admit this is slightly biased. But I do, as a neutral fan, believe that Nick and Sara should have had a goodbye scene. They were just too good of friends not to have one. So since the writers decided to be mean and not do one, I took it upon myself to make it happen. Happy reading, and please review. :)

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Nick couldn't believe it. She'd just taken off. Just like that; no explanation, no goodbye. Well, she'd said goodbye to Grissom, Hodges had made that very clear. But still, the Sara he knew didn't act like that. She didn't just walk up to someone, kiss them, with an audience, and take off. Something was wrong. Something had been wrong ever since he found her in the desert. He got that. He knew that readjusting was going to be hard for her. And he'd wanted to help, but then she switched to Swing and they rarely got to see each other. He'd assumed that Grissom would be there for her. He was her _fiancé_ for Christ's sake! But Nick had been wrong; Grissom didn't know how to handle it. And that made him feel even guiltier for not talking to Sara sooner. 

Sighing, he walked over to his coffee table, where he'd placed his cell phone. Hitting #2 on his speed dial, he leaned back against the couch and waited.

It rang four times. Five, six, seven...

"Hello?"

Nick bolted upright, not sure if she'd actually answered or it was just a figment of his imagination. A second greeting came and he knew he wasn't imagining it.

"Nick?"

"Yeah, hi Sara, it's me. I was..uh...are you okay?" There were so many things he wanted to say to her, he couldn't figure out which one to go with first.

He heard her sigh. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just...needed to get away for a while."

"When are you coming back?"

Although he couldn't see her, she looked down and started to pick at a loose thread on her jeans, like she would have if they were having this conversation face to face.

"I don't know Nicky."

He paused. _What does she want from__ me?_

"Where are you Sara?"

"I can't tell you that." He could hear the desperation in her voice. "And you can't tell Grissom you talked to me."

"Sara, did he do something to you? Just tell me what's going on." His desperation was close to rivalling hers.

"Nick, you know I love you. You know I'm grateful for the friendship we've had. But...I just need to get away from Vegas for a while. Away from the job, I just...I need some time." She was on the verge of tears now, and he wished he could do something for her; he just wanted to fix the situation, put the broken pieces of her back together.

But he knew he couldn't do that. He knew, from personal experience, that recovering from an event like the one she had just been through was not an exact science. Everyone had their own way of dealing with it. For him, he just needed to talk about it, and Sara had been there for him like a good friend, listening to every midnight rambling and saying all the right things. Now it was his turn to be there for her. But not in the physical sense, that's not what she needed. He was going to give her his support just by letting her go.

"Okay, if that's what you need then fine...but just promise me one thing, okay Sare?"

"Anything."

"Promise you'll call me if you decide to come back. Or if you need anything."

"I promise Nicky." Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, and the cab driver was eyeing her strangely from the rear view mirror.

"Okay, I love you Sunshine, take care of yourself."

"You too Nick."

And that was it. He hung up the phone and he knew he'd probably never talk to her again. He wished it didn't have to be this way, but he knew there was no other choice.

The cab came to a stop in front of the airport and the driver turned around to face her.

"You gonna be alright ma'am?"

Sara genuinely smiled for the first time in...weeks, probably. "Yeah, I'm okay now; I just had to take care of one last thing."

The man helped her get her bags out of the trunk and she headed through the double doors. This was it, she was leaving Las Vegas. But not all of her was leaving. Part of her was staying with Grissom. Despite everything a part of her did still love him. But another part...a bigger part, was staying with her long-time friend and confidante, Nick Stokes. The one man she could never truly forget about. He'd help make her who she was, helped her find the strength to do this, to do what's right for herself.

Before handing her ticket to the woman at the gate she turned toward the window, where the full moon was shining in the sky.

"I'm gonna miss you, Nick Stokes."

FIN


End file.
